It was the dreaded tongue twister of the school nativity:

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register. (Luke 2:1-3)

But according to some scholars and historians, Luke simply made this up.  It was common knowledge that Jesus was from Nazareth, however an ancient Jewish prophecy said the promised rescuer would come from Bethlehem.  So, is this famous line simply a lie and a deceitful attempt to make Jesus out to be someone He wasn’t?

One of the challenges with historical sources is that not everything that happened was recorded and not everything that was recorded has been recovered.  It is true that, as of yet, no other ancient document mentions this census and there are questions surrounding the practise of registering in one’s hometown and the governorship of Quirinius.  Space does not permit an exploration of all these questions, and whilst possible answers have been offered, we are ultimately left with two possibilities:

1. Luke was lying from the start and has finally been caught out
2. Luke was telling the truth, but we have gaps in our understanding.

It is my assertion that option 2 is the most probable explanation given what we read elsewhere in the Gospel.  The question we need to ask ourselves is: is it credible that Luke made this up?   

Luke introduces his work by addressing Theophilus, most likely a wealthy Roman official who acted as Luke’s patron – think the ancient equivalent of a book publisher.  Luke says that after careful investigation he has written this work ‘so that you might know the certainty of the things you have been taught.’ We need to ask ourselves would Luke, writing within living memory of the recorded events, make up something so ludicrous as a census of the entire Roman world?  If Luke needed an excuse to have Jesus born in Bethlehem why go for something so easily falsifiable?  In fact, just a few verses earlier Luke records how Mary had spent several months with her cousin Elizabeth just down the road from Bethlehem.  Had Luke needed to make up Jesus being born in Bethlehem he had ample opportunity, and no-one would have been able to question it.  Instead, Luke records that Mary returned to Nazareth and later journeyed back down south with Joseph because of a large-scale census.  If you’re going to tell a white lie you don’t tie its credibility to a great big whooper. So, we must conclude that either Luke was completely loopy and only got away with this crazy lie because everyone else was just as loopy, or that our distance from the events have hidden things from us which were obvious to the first hearers.    

I am convinced in the historicity of Luke’s account, but this is not simply history for history’s sake.  Luke’s Gospel is written to move us from a ‘fairytale’ awareness of Jesus to the reality of His radical rescue, that we might know the true hope and life that is found in Jesus.  My hope and prayer for you this Christmas is that you will press into the reality of Jesus and discover the greatest gift ever given.

If you would like to find out more and receive a free copy of Luke’s Gospel, please contact pauld@therfieldchapel.org